An 83-year-old grandmother has told how hammer-wielding intruders threatened to kidnap and torture her after breaking into her home.

Antiques dealer Mary Smith says she woke at 4am to find the hooded raiders ransacking her cottage in a desperate hunt for jewellery and cash.

Then followed a terrifying 30-minute ordeal in which the robbers held a claw hammer to her face and said they would smash her fingers and bludgeon her cat if she refused to give up her valuables.

Speaking from her home in Chilham, she said: “A noise at my bedside woke me up. It was very dark but I could see a big man with a torch rummaging through drawers.

“I said, ‘what do you think you’re doing?’, and he said, ‘we’ve been told you’ve got jewellery and money’.

“I tried to stay calm but was terrified because a friend of mine in London was actually tortured by robbers who killed her dog in front of her.”

The pensioner – who has had two knee and hip operations – says she could also hear another man emptying out drawers in the cottage.

"I told them that I didn’t keep money and jewellery in the house and I wouldn’t be going anywhere" - Mrs Smith

“They told me that if I did not tell them where the valuables were I would have to go with them,” she said.

“But I told them that I didn’t keep money and jewellery in the house and I wouldn’t be going anywhere.

“After about 30 minutes of turning the house upside down they seemed to accept I hadn’t got anything.

“They eventually took the £20 I had in my purse and a gold bracelet which used to belong to my mum, and left.”

Mrs Smith, who has appeared as an expert on several antiques television programmes including Cash in the Attic, bravely resisted the intruders before calling police.

She said: “Unfortunately I didn’t get a good look at them because they were both wearing parka-style hoods over their heads. I called 999 and the police arrived about 15 minutes later, by which time they were long gone.”

Mrs Smith, who has five sons and once ran an antiques shop in Canterbury, says she is grateful she escaped unharmed.

She said: “I hope the police catch them because it was very frightening to have these men in my home in the middle of the night and they are likely to do it again.

“They left the place in an absolute state but I’m just thankful they didn’t hurt me.”

Police confirmed they are investigating the robbery last Wednesday and say anyone with information should call 101, quoting reference ZY/604/15.

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